There is no doubt that the marketing landscape has changed rapidly over the last few years and is continuing to evolve at a rapid pace.  The constant emergence of new technology is resulting in continually changing media consumption.  

According to a recent report from flurry, people are spending more and more of their time on smartphones and web than ever before.  Interestingly, in the U.S. TV still accounts for 40% of time spent on media.  Where Print and Radio were once the other dominant channels, Mobile and Web have taken their place.  Mobile and Web combined account for 45% of media consumption.  Print and Radio together now only account for 15%.

These statistics highlight that it is obvious that advertisers are overspending on print and TV and are drastically underspending on mobile and web.  Mobile accounts for 23% of U.S. media consumption yet attracts only 1% of spend.  Whilst there is a much larger spend on web, proportion of spend is still below consumption levels.

According to Josh Boaz on iMedia Connection “The mobile space encompasses all users who view the internet either through their mobile smartphone device or through a tablet.“  According to eMarketer, trends show that tablets and smartphones will soon be more prevalent than traditional computers.

Research from Local corporation and the e-tailing group in March 2012 looked at attitudes toward researching purchase on tablets in the US.  Half of all respondents agreed that a tablet is an ideal tool to research products before marking final purchases.  Half of all respondents also agreed that they currently us a tablet to research products prior to a store visit.   These statistics confirm that tablets and smartphones should certainly be considered as part of our marketing planning.  At a minimum, brands should be creating mobile friendly sites to ensure customers are able to access their sites when researching purchases.

Interestingly, U.S. research from Rosetta, shows that the preferred device varies according to the activity the user is trying to partake.  Smartphones or Tablets are not yet the dominant channel for shopping for new products and services.  It seems that the PC/Desktop/Laptop is still the preferred device for online shopping with 39% of people selecting this device.  This is likely to be due to the size of the screen and possibly also due to the fact that many sites have not yet been designed for shopping on mobile devices.

According to flurry, mobile is likely to be lagging so far behind in terms of advertising spend due to the channel having emerged so quickly.  Mobile technology and systems are not yet as sophisticated as web based systems in catering for advertisers.  It seems that we have not yet worked out how to effectively advertise to consumers through this channel.  Tracking conversion is also still difficult to assess in comparison to web tools.

Looking towards the future, it is only likely that web and mobile advertising will continue to grow whilst spend within traditional media channels continues to decline back to become more in line with consumption.  The growth in mobile seems to be whee the biggest transformation is and will continue to take place.  With the speed at which media consumption is changing who knows what will come next?

References

Boaz, J, 2012, What I learned from Mobile Marketing Day 2012, iMedia Connection, viewed on 1 May 2012, http://www.cmo.com/mobile/what-i-learned-mobile-marketing-day-2012

Chaffey, D, Ellis-Chadwick, F, Mayer, R, Johnston, K, 2009, Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation, and Practice, Pearson Education, England.

eMarketer Digital Intelligence, 2012, What I learned from Mobile Marketing Day 2012, iMedia Connection, viewed on 1 May 2012, http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009000

Fargo, P, 2012, Upper Middle Class, Females Key to Bridging Mobile Ad Spending Gap, Flurry Blog, viewed on 1 May 2012, http://blog.flurry.com/bid/82171/Upper-Middle-Class-Females-Key-to-Bridging-Mobile-Ad-Spending-Gap

To share or not to share?

A recent article about Vogue Spain got me thinking about copyright issues online.  Web 2.0 technology has made it so easy for people to share content.  In fact, most businesses encourage users to share their content and can only wish that their content will “go viral”.

The benefits to brands in consumers behaving like a media channel and promoting their products and services is huge.  In fact, this is the aim for most marketers when planning social marketing activities. 

However, copyright issues are still an issue - especially with new image sharing platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.  

As a virtual pinboard which has been designed to encourage curation of content by “pinning” from websites, brands and other people, it seems to encourage copyright infringement.  According to CBS news, when users sign up for Pinterest, they are accepting responsibility for copyright infringement.

(Credit: Erik Sherman)

The good new for consumers is that according to mashable the likelihood of being challenged by brands or owners of content is fairly low.

However, the likelihood of brands or companies being accused of copyright infringement is much higher.  Consumers or brands that have had their content shared by companies without permission may see opportunity for lawsuits.   Therefore sharing content without permission can be extremely risky for companies.

It’s interesting that while some corporate legal teams are likely to be scared about Pinterest and Instagram, many marketers are excited by the platform.

Marketing benefits

Whilst image sharing platforms may provide headaches to legal teams, the benefits to business can be reaped if leveraged effectively.

If the brand is visual and interesting, utilising image sharing platforms like Pinterest, Flickr and Instagram can bring increased awareness.  As they say, an image speaks a thousand words, therefore images are much better at attracting attention than long slabs of text.

Linking to your site via images on Pinterest can lead to more website visitors and potentially new customers as the platform provides the ability to link the image back to the site.  

According to shareaholic.com, Pinterest is now responsible for “1.05 percent of all referral traffic.”  In February, the platform provided more referred traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

When talking about the success of Pinterest as part of their overall social marketing activities, Elle magazine editorial director Keith Pollock stated "We are seeing traffic increases and high engagement, and it's great branding for us to get our content out there".

Business friend or foe?

Companies will need to decide whether image sharing platforms are a business friend or foe.  A companies success on these platform is likely to largely depend on the type of product, whether it is highly visual or appealing to users of these platforms and the internal capabilities of the team to create high quality imagery and link back to site.  Which side will you take?

References

Chaffey, D, Ellis-Chadwick, F, Mayer, R, Johnston, K, 2009, Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation, and Practice, Pearson Education, England.

Mon, G. E, 2012, The copyright question: how to protect yourself on Pinterest, viewed on 4 May 2012, http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/pinterest-copyright-legal-issues/

Parakh, R, 2012, Many Magazines Racing to Capitalize on Pinterest, viewed on 4 May 2012, http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/magazines-racing-capitalize-pinterest/233865/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+adage%2Fcomplete+%28Advertising+Age+-+Complete+Feed%29